Some of the emails that recently came to light — from prior to the Merrill acquisition closing — makes it pretty hard for the company to claim MAC — Material Adverse Condition. The email exchanges make clear it they had a pretty good idea about the lousy condition Merrill Lynch was in. To my read, it looks like they got cold feet once they realized they bid too much too soon.

I think Kenny has some ‘splainin to do!

“Congressional investigators think that reams of internal documents turned over by Bank of America last Friday show that its executives were alarmed by mounting losses at Merrill Lynch well before shareholders voted to approve the merger, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Investigators also think the documents, combined with prior testimony and fresh interviews with a key executive, suggest that Bank of America chief executive Kenneth D. Lewis used the threat of backing out of the government-backed deal as leverage for billions more in taxpayer bailout money, the sources said.”